23 March 2003
Rumsfeld: Despite Difficulties, Liberation of Iraq Is Certain
(Urges Iraqi forces to surrender with honor, not defend regime) (620) By Howard Cincotta Washington File Special Correspondent Washington -- Although war is inherently uncertain, the outcome of the military campaign in Iraq is clear -- the regime of Saddam Hussein will be gone, the Iraqi people liberated, and the world will be a safer place, according to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld appeared March 23 on several television news programs: NBC's Meet the Press with Tim Russert, CNN with Wolf Blitzer, and CBS's Face the Nation. "The course of this war is clear, the outcome is clear," Rumsfeld said on CNN. "The regime of Saddam Hussein is gone. It's over. And the people in Iraq need to know that, that it will not be long before they will be liberated. The leadership and the military in Iraq need to know that they should act with honor and stop defending a regime that is shortly going to be history." Rumsfeld said that progress in the military campaign was excellent, citing the operations of the special forces in the west and north of Iraq -- and the fast pace of ground forces moving from the south toward Baghdad. Resistance has been uneven and stiff in some cases, he said on Meet the Press. On the other hand, he said, there have many instances of soldiers surrendering in the thousands. In response to questions about the air campaign, Rumsfeld strongly disputed the assertion that U.S. and coalition forces were indiscriminately bombing Baghdad. "The pictures made it look like we were bombing Baghdad," he said on Meet the Press. "We were not bombing Baghdad. That is the greater Baghdad area, and in it there are a large number of military targets and command and control and regime targets. And that is what we were bombing, and it was very precise, and it made it look like the city was ablaze. The city was not ablaze. The Iraqi regime was ablaze." It is the Iraqi regime that has demonstrated a lack of respect for human life by putting military installations near mosques, schools, and hospitals, according the Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld said that coalition forces continue to make contact with Iraqi military leaders at the unit or individual level to encourage surrender, but said that there are no government-to-government negotiations under way. Those contacts include officers in the Republican Guard. "Needless to say, our goal is to have this done with minimum of loss of life on the coalition side and on the Iraqi side," Rumsfeld said on CBS's Face the Nation. We have people on the ground in the country in a variety of locations," Rumsfeld said on Meet the Press. "They are talking to senior military leaders. And in a number of instances those leaders have communicated how they thought it would be appropriate for them to surrender, and they have done so. There have been a number of units that have surrendered." Coalition forces have not yet discovered any stocks of chemical or biological weapons, Rumsfeld said. However, he pointed out, the military campaign is still in the early stages, and said the first priority is to remove the regime before engaging in a more systematic search for weapons of mass destruction. On CNN, Rumsfeld reminded viewers that someone would have to carry out Saddam Hussein's orders to use chemical or biological weapons. "Those people are being told in no uncertain terms that they must not do that. If they follow those orders, they will be tracked down and punished." Rumsfeld said he anticipated that the fighting might intensify and casualties increase as coalition forces approach Baghdad, but that the outcome would never be in doubt. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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